Iveagh Private Investment House, the Guinness family office, has launched six global multi-asset funds with a range of different risk profiles.

Warren Buffett's $5bn investment in Goldman Sachs after the Lehman Brothers collapsed was a ‘wager' to allow the Federal Reserve to take on debt and prop up the economic recovery.

China has raised interest rates for the third time in four months in an attempt to cool inflation.

BP reported an annual loss of $4.9bn (£3.1bn) in 2010, the first time the oil giant failed to post full-year profits in almost 20 years.

Caution has set in for investors in early trading on Monday as traders await the outcome of today's eurozone finance ministers' meeting in Brussels.

There is a lack of appetite amongst European investors for bond funds across the continent after a net withdrawal of €4.6bn in November, according to Lipper's latest monthly snapshot.

The FTSE fell back from yesterday's 31-month closing high in early trading Thursday, despite strong global gains overnight following a successful bond sale in Portugal.

Threadneedle has appointed former Goldman Sachs executive director Irina Miklavchich as fund manager of its £129m Global Emerging Markets Equity fund.

The FTSE 100 has opened in the red, falling 0.23% or 13.67 points to 5,970.66 in early trading, as worse than expected US job figures took their toll on investor sentiment.

Paul Carne has altered the European equity holdings in his £314m multi-manager Lifestyle range, cutting three funds including Cazenove's Chris Rice.